Roger,
> Many developers now remove the underline from links, and some change the
> colour of links from the default blue. I know from my observations this
can make
> the pages harder for some people to use.
>
> I would be interested to know what impact other people think this might
have on
> complying with this Success Criteria:
>
> 1.4.1 Use of Color: Color is not used as the only visual means of
conveying
> information, indicating an action, prompting a response, or distinguishing
a visual
> element.
I have seen pages where the link color was changed to red and where links
are only distinguished bei mouse over and focus effects. I have also seen
color blind people looking at that page and saying "No, there are no links
on this page." The color red is probably a specific case, because some
people with color blindness see red asblack or dark grey.
But even people using contrast mode may have difficulties. Althouh there are
all kinds of settings which can be made for links, links that are only shown
in a different color may be overseen. So it is important to add at least one
more visual cue (icon, underline, font weight ...) to the visual
presentation of the link - specially when the links are a part of other
text.
That is how I understand 1.4.1. If links don't have at least one visual cue
other than color, then the page fails conformance level A.
HTH
Jan
--
Jan Eric Hellbusch
Tel.: +49 (231) 86436760 oder +49 (163) 3369925
Web: http://2bweb.de Twitter: www.twitter.com/2bweb
--
Das Buch Ã¼ber barrierefreies Webdesign:
"Barrierefreiheit verstehen und umsetzen - Webstandards fÃ¼r ein zugÃ¤ngliches
und nutzbares Internet"
812 Seiten, Dpunkt Verlag (2011)
http://www.barrierefreies-webdesign.de/dpunkt/